Your documents are handled with extreme privacy. They are seen only by one person in flatzoom who manages the booking with you and by the apartment owner.

The landlord will evaluate and provide an initial reply. We’ll inform you. If positive, it still doesn’t mean that the apartment is yours yet. You must complete the booking process before anybody else books the apartment.

STEP 2) CHECK CONDITIONS

We’ll send to you the Booking Request document with all main lease conditions stated in. It states your booking commitments so please check it carefully.

We may send the full lease contract draft text too, ONLY for information purposes. At this stage, you’re NOT YET accepting the full contract text. You will have the chance to check it and propose changes to it later and in case of lack of agreement your booking fee will be refunded (see step 5). So, no need to go into it now. Let’s block the apartment first.

By paying, you request to book the apartment under the conditions stated in the Booking Request document and you accept them. You’re NOT YET accepting the full lease contract draft text. If attached, it’s only for your information about its potential content. It will be agreed AFTER booking and in case of no agreement, the fee will be refunded (see step 5).

At this stage your booking is NOT yet confirmed. It must be confirmed by the landlord. During this booking process, your fee is kept by flatzoom, not the landlord, for your safety and peace of mind. This fee equals and will count as the agent fee when you sign the lease with the owner (see step 5).

STEP 4) GET LANDLORD REPLY

Once the booking request fee is paid, the landlord will formally reply to your request. We will inform you. It may be:

4a. The landlord accepts –> Congrats! He/she booked the apartment for you under the conditions of the Booking Request document. We’ll proceed to step 5.

4b. The landlord accepts but proposes some change –> You may accept it, not accept or start a negotiation process with him/her. If you reach an agreement, we’ll proceed to step 5. If you don’t reach an agreement and thus you refuse to lease the apartment, we’ll pay you back the full booking fee immediately.

4c. The landlord refuses –> We’ll pay you back the full booking fee immediately.

No formal answer is given by the owner before the payment. You hold no booking rights before the owner’s answer, no matter how long your previous talkings with flatzoom have been. This is the standard process in Barcelona market, due to its superfast dynamics and competitiveness, with many agents and tenants dealing about the same apartment at the same time. This agreed procedure in the market ensures order and transparency, so everybody involved knows clearly the booking status at each moment.

We flatzoom tell you the booking acceptance on behalf of the landlord. Landlords work with many brokers and agents at the same time, so we flatzoom cannot provide acceptance on our own. After his/her acceptance, the landlord is the only responsible to hold his/her acceptance, not flatzoom.

Our notification of the landlord’s acceptance is not a valid lease contract according to Spanish law, so it does not entitle you to occupy the apartment yet. The lease contract must be signed by the landlord and you (see step 5). The time this takes depends solely on the landlord and you, not on flatzoom.

STEP 5) SIGN LEASE CONTRACT

Check the lease contract text that we provide to you. It follows the requirements of the LAU (Spanish Law of Urban Leases) and the most common lease practices in our country. Both you and the owner may propose changes to the text. Beware that this involves not only you but the owner as well, so a discussion may be needed and thus time. flatzoom nor the owner bear no liability if you miss the booked move-in date due to yourself. In such case, the first period rent would not be modified. We may invite you and the owner to a whatsapp group with us, to ease the discussion. Two scenarios:

5a. In case of agreement:

Both you and the landlord will receive an e-mail with an invitation to sign online the agreed lease contract. When you sign the contract, please pay the first rent and deposit to the landlord (see contract for details).

Once signed, you’ll receive an e-mail with the signed contract. This will be the original version, fully valid for any legal purpose, for instance City Council empadronamiento or NIE.

5b. In case of no agreement and therefore if you finally don’t rent the apartment, we will refund your booking fee fully as long as the following two conditions are met:

You keep your acceptance to the lease conditions stated in the Booking Request document.

Your proposed changes to the lease contract text meet the LAU (Spanish Law of Urban Leases).

STEP 6) CHECK IN !

Get in touch with your landlord (contact data in the lease contract) and arrange the details of your arrival and check-in. Welcome to your marvellous new home!

If assisted by flatzoom staff, the check-in will be in a labor day (10am-6pm), not on a Holiday.

FEE REIMBURSEMENT

The booking fee is paid back in the events explained in steps 4b, 4c & 5b above. If paid through credit card, we’ll revert the payment to the same account it was debited to. If paid through bank wire, we’ll wire back to a Spanish national bank account that you instruct us to. It is NEVER paid back through international bank transfer. In case the landlord finally refused to sign the lease contract after booking due to him/her, your fee is paid back upon above but flatzoom holds no other liability and no complaints can be raised towards flatzoom.

ITP TAX

When you rent any apartment in Barcelona, you as tenant must pay the ITP tax (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales) to the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Public Administration). More information can be found here.

PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE

It is highly recommended that you hire an insurance covering the costs of potential accidents like a fire or so in your apartment, as well as the value of your belongings in the event of being stolen. Very unlikely events in Barcelona but worth having them covered. The cost is typically 99 €/year. In case of specific apartments, we will hire this on your behalf.

Flatzoom Real Estate Service

Flatzoom real estate service includes the following topics:

to find the apartment and present it in flatzoom database,

to take care of questions by interested tenants,

to provide video tour when available,

to take care of physical viewings when possible,

to assist online in the negotiation and contract drafting. In this process, the two parties communicate directly and flatzoom assists

to assist the tenant online to setup up his/her personal home insurance with our insurance company Allianz, if required,

to prepare the contract signature, to be done online,

and to help coordinate the check-in.

It does NOT include any other topic not stated above, specially:

to assist in check in as this is done by the owners,

set up utilities and Internet,

to advice on or manage taxes that the tenant should pay or any other legal o tax liability applying to the tenant due to the lease contract,

to assist the tenant in any issue regarding the apartment condition or during the stay. Condition of the apartment and support during stay are under the owner liability per Spanish law and must be dealt with the owner as per Spanish law and the contract.

to assist in the check-out or the deposit refund, at the end of the lease.

Flatzoom real estate service finishes when the tenant signs the lease contract.

The tenant signs the lease contract with the apartment owner. Flatzoom holds no liability for the contract terms freely agreed among the two parties nor for any issues that arise during the lease period.

Flatzoom may provide information and guidance about taxes to be paid by the tenant or any other legal or tax liability due to him/her, solely for information purposes, and not as part of the service. Any difference between the information provided and the actual legislation or any action taken by the tenant related to his legal and tax obligations is not under flatzoom’s liability but only under the tenants liability.

Flatzoom real estate agency fee is 10% of one year rent +21% VAT regardless of the lease period, following the standard for long-term rentals in Barcelona.

Information Accuracy and Liabilities

The apartments offered in flatzoom are not owned by flatzoom but by independant owners. All the information provided by flatzoom, like apartment features, equipment, quality, condition, availability, monthly rent, lease conditions and any other data, depend on the apartment owners.

Please, note that the information provided about the apartment features, equipment, quality and condition is for information purposes not contractual purposes. Note that it might contain errors occasionally due to unaccuracy of text, human mistake, miscommunication with the owners, changes in the conditions, etc. For instance, it may have improved or worsened after our pictures or video were taken due to tear and wear. You must check the actual status by viewing the apartment or refer to the lease contract.

If you decide to book an apartment without actually viewing it physically, no complaints can be raised towards flatzoom.

The tenant signs the lease contract with the apartment owner and not with flatzoom. You as the tenant and the owner are the only responsible for the lease agreements that you reach and sign together. Flatzoom holds no liability for the contract content and terms freely agreed among the two parties. The only legal mean of setting the apartment identification and content leased, is not the advertisement, the pictures nor the videos. It’s the lease contract. The owner is the only liable to hold his commitments as per the lease contract signed.

Please, note that flats in Barcelona are let very fast, in an average of 1 week and sometimes in one day or even just hours. Flat hunters in Barcelona typically don’t realise until they start their searching adventure. Also, apartments are typically offered by many agents at once. Therefore, the availability dates of apartments change very fast and in some specific cases it may take some time until one is updated in flatzoom. This depens on the owner not on flatzoom. Flatzoom bears no liability for the accuracy of this information.

Flatzoom does not provide support during your stay in the apartment. Spanish law states that this support is provided by the apartment owner. Any issue must be settled in the scope of the private lease contract that both parties sign freely and, in case of conflict, solved following the procedures and jurisdiction you both agree per contract. Flatzoom holds no liability for any of such issues.

Privacy Policy

At flatzoom your trust means everything to us. That’s why we respect your privacy and protect it with strong encryption, plus strict policies that govern how all data is handled.

We only use your personal data for one goal, your goal: to find the best apartment in Barcelona. Thus, your data is only used internally to send you housing options matching your needs and it is not shared with anybody. It is not given to the apartment advertisers, except for the apartments you inquire about. When you inquire about one apartment, flatzoom introduces you to the agent of that apartment, thus provide them with your email address (and your phone number if you provide it to us). Your personal data is not provided to any other company or individual, for advertisement purposes or any other purposes. It is kept strictly confidential within flatzoom.

You may delete your account with us at any time. For so, please contact us here.